Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

€2000 tender for an infographic by Houses of Oireachtas

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Oireachtas Infographic

So the Houses of the Oireachtas want an infographic and one that does this:

provide a visual representation of the budget process from the perspective of the Houses of the Oireachtas that is visually engaging as well as being authoritative, accurate and objective.

and the max ex-VAT price you can quote:

The maximum budget for this project is €2,000

Yeah cos when you tell people the max you’ll pay, that means the quote will be Max minus a few quid.

This is all outlined in an 18 page document. (.Doc Attached)

But hang on, there are some conditions for this:

“it must be possible to print it (A3 and A4) as well as publishing it on the Library & Research Service WordPress website.”

Yeah infographics generally have that ability, you know cos they’re graphics.

But wait, there’s more:

It is expected that there will be at least one kick off meeting after the tender has been awarded to confirm approach and content, and at least one draft infographic delivered to the L&RS before delivery of the final approved infographic.

Think of the admin work that went into producing this tender and evaluating it. For an infrographc!

Last year it cost €105 million to run the Houses of the Oireachtas.

So they sez to the Prez – Equality and accountability please

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

By the way old people in media: They’re called Young People, not the Lost Generation.

President Michael D. Higgins’ Being Young and Irish 2012 consultation workshops began today. The first of the roadshows took place in DIT Bolton Street this morning. More roadshows will be happening in Cork (September 15th), Monaghan (September 22nd) and Galway (September 29th) in the next while. The idea is getting Young People in a room and getting them to say what they think the country needs to do in the next while and where priorities should be. Groups proposed different ideas and then voted on them. Today they voted and said these are of importance or as the blurb said:

Then in plenary session the young people voted on their vision for Ireland and established, with the support of D.I.T. researchers, the top 10 most important aspects of that vision.

100 people (so far) are of the belief that equality and accountability are very important to the country. Here’s the full list.

  • 1a. Equality – gay marriage – gender – wage/salary = equality in Ireland*
  • 1b.Accountability – leaders – finance – systems – services – government
  • 3. A suitable completed education that includes special needs, life-skills, practical aspects, and is holistic
  • 4. Mental health and suicide ,awareness, mainstreaming. Bottom up approach and input from role models. Detachment of taboo
  • 5a. Cultural identity – recognition of importance of language, history and arts**
  • 5b. Accountable political system (reform) – participation structures, responsibility
  • 7. Move from apathy to proactive participation, youth-led change and innovation. Removal of jargon and buzz words in communication with youth
  • 8. Improvement in the planning and implementation of green technologies
  • 9. More opportunities and less exploitation in youth employment
  • 10. Secular society and Government

* got equal votes
** got equal votes

Ban Itchy and Scratchy

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Record sales of violent video games very worrying – Mitchell O’ Connor

Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has today described reports of records sales of the new ‘Call of Duty’ video game in the lead up to Christmas as very worrying.

“In a week that saw needless bloodshed, both at home and abroad, the high sales figures of this violent video game are very concerning. Sales are estimated to have generated €1 billion in just 16 days. It is being lauded as the fastest selling entertainment product of all time, ahead of films such as the Harry Potter movies and Avatar.

“I really fear we are entering an age where such violence will be commonplace. Undoubtedly, society has become desensitized to acts of violence. There are a number of reasons for this, but violent video games certainly play a part. Life is precious and such games present people as obstacles and violent acts as having no consequence. Over exposure to such violence, be it in video games or otherwise, can distort reality.”

“Having worked as a teacher and as a principal, I am aware of how impressionable some young adults can be and I think it is really important that rules governing the sale of such games are enforced. I also think it is important that parents are mindful of buying adult games in situations where younger children might gain access to them.
“These video games provide no educational or social benefits. For me, the gift of a book will always provide real and lasting benefit. In Ireland, we are very fortunate to have exceptional authors both for children and adults and we need to support them more. It is also hugely important that literacy levels in this country dramatically improve. The Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) shows our literacy levels have fallen from 5th in the developed world to 15th.”

ENDS

You only have words, and you take actions to get your words heard

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

Tony Blair to Alastair Campbell, taken from Prelude to Power.
“We’re in opposition and when you’re the opposition leader there is not much you can do. You can’t make decisions that change people’s lives. You only have words, and you take actions to get your words heard. Your policies are words because you are not in a position to put them into practice. And while that is so, and while the media are the vehicle by which our words and communicated and analysed, we have to influence them as much as we can”

Send anonymous hate messages powered by Fine Gael

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Fine Gael has a Valentine’s app on their site that allows you to send a message to anyone’s email from anyone’s email without any kind of verification. You can then put some text into it which again is not checked. So RTÉ’s Newsdesk sent me an email. More genius from the social media muppets in there. See how it can be done with this email I got:

FineGaelDodgyEmails2011

Fine Gael wins election, Enda wins Taoiseach (according to Google)

Sunday, February 13th, 2011

Using the Google Keyword Tool that shows you search trends it seems that when it comes to searching for party names in Ireland Fine Gael romps home with Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail joint second, Labour Party and Green Party joint third. This data is a few weeks out of sync so will change again right before the election.

IrishElection2011PartySearches1

Of course if we use the more general Labour and Greens searches, this changes the table but that brings in everything from child birth searches to labour court type searches:

IrishElection2011PartySearches2

Leader searches:
Enda Kenny, then Gerry Adams, John Gormley and Eamon Gilmore at same level, then Micheal Martin.

IrishElection2011LeaderSearches1

What about Jedward? They kinda own searches:

IrishElection2011LeaderSearches2

Informed Sources

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Years back when I did work with IrelandOffline I talked to a journalist about some telco gossip I heard. Something about the Govt not being happy with some new offering from eircom or something. I asked not to be attributed and to check with others about it. Watching Yes, Minister the other night reminded me of this. The next Sunday the story was printed gave me attribution as “sources close to the Government”. When I read some stories in papers nowadays when they have a “sources” anon quotation and then an on-record quote from someone else, I know that it’s the same person being quoted. I stress, for some. Anyway, enjoy this scene from Yes, Minister series 2 “The Death List”.

Here Jim Hacker leaks a story to the press in the usual way:

Jim Hacker: Where will they run it?

Journo: High up on the home news page.

Jim Hacker: – Not on page one?
Journo: Can I attribute it?

Journo: “Minister speaks out”?
Jim Hacker: – No, no, no.
Journo: Then, where did I get the story? I can’t say, “Officially announced.”
Jim Hacker: “Government spokesman”?

Journo: “Sources close to Minister”?
Jim Hacker: Hold on, I don’t want everybody to know I told you! Couldn’t you do, “Speculation is growing in Westminster”?

Journo: A bit weak.
Jim Hacker: “Unofficial spokesman”?
Journo: Used that twice this week already!
Jim Hacker: The Cabinet’s leaking like a sieve, isn’t it?
Journo: Couldn’t we attribute it to a leading member of the sieve… Cabinet?
Jim Hacker: No…
Journo: How would you like to be “an informed source”?

Jim Hacker: OK. “Informed source.”
Journo: Quite a joke, isn’t it, describing someone as “informed”when his Permanent Secretaryis Sir Humphrey Appleby?

Social Media and Political Parties in Ireland

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

It’s going to be an Internet election in Ireland? Bollox it is.

There are two million people in Ireland on Facebook.

Fine Gael has 2776 fans on Facebook.
Fianna Fail has 1770 fans on Facebook.
Labour has 1421 fans on Facebook. It also has 1960 “Friends” on a personal profile which is against the Facebook terms and conditions and is still interacting with people as of today.

0.13% are fans of Fine Gael
0.0885% are fans of Fianna Fail
0.07105% are fans of Labour

17,000 Irish people are fans of Barcardi. Why like? That’s 0.85% of Irish Facebook users.

Spin SouthWest meanwhile has 58,000 fans. That’s 2.9% of Facebook, for a regional station?

If the excuse is Facebook has the wrong demographics then it shows the total ignorance involved in this. Every demographic are on Facebook and in very large numbers. The election in March is still going to be done the old way by the old faces with a few appointed kids fake tweeting and Facebooking for the parties. And they’ll pat themselves on the back for it afterwards too in their special advisor or quango roles.

More five second analysis of everything the parties are doing wrong will probably follow. Love Damien, who apparently consults for a political party.

Heyday – On April 24th, call for a general election by making noise

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Use of the song approved of my Mic Christopher’s family too:

Facebook Page calling for a General Election. If you support the idea why not blog it, Tweet it and share it with friends on Facebook?

Government swallows little green pills for their Willie dysfunction problem

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Any excuse for a title like that. Loving the fact that Twitter are calling it #williegate and/or #willygate

See ya Willie.

Don’t forget to get your commemorative Willie tache. Willie O’Dea, tache.